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In Festival

Paras Sem ki Sabzi (Spicy, Sautéed French Beans)

French beans are a variety of beans that are long in length, though some are curved. They are slender and more tender than regular beans. The ends are tapered and pointed. As with most vegetables, they are good for Indian sabzis (sautéed vegetables). Here is a quick sabzi with frozen French beans that are pre-cut.

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Paras Sem ki Sabzi (Spicy, Sautéed French Beans)

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 15

Total Time 25

Servings 4

Spicy, savory French beans that go well with any Indian meal.

Ingredients

1 pack frozen pre-cut French beans
¼ tsp mustard seeds
½ medium onion (thinly sliced)
2 medium garlic cloves (peeled and thinly sliced)
¼ tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp cumin powder
¼ tsp red chili powder (more or less, to taste)
2 tbsp cooking oil
1 sprig curry patta (leaves) (about 12, optional)
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp fresh, or thawed, grated coconut (or 1 tbsp of almonds )

Instructions

Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat.
Then add the mustard seeds.
As soon as they start to splutter, 30 seconds. Add the curry patta and sliced garlic. Stir 15 seconds.
Now add the sliced onions and return the heat to medium-high. Sauté until translucent, approximately 3-4 minutes.
Add the turmeric and cumin powder, and stir for 30 seconds.
Add the frozen beans. Stir to incorporate onions and spices with the beans. Lower heat to medium-low. Cover and cook for 3 minutes. Uncover and cook on medium-high, occasionally stirring, until all the moisture evaporates and the beans have a nice glaze. Approximately4-5 minutes.
Turn off the heat. Cover the beans with a splatter guard or half cover it to let the steam escape. This ensures the beans do not get soggy.
Pour into a serving dish and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of grated coconut or with a tablespoon of roasted slivered almonds.

Notes

You can use fresh French beans. Wash the green beans. If they are stringy, break the top branch stem part of the bean and unzip the side string. I remove both ends of the beans, but you can leave the tip if it does not look stringy. Gather a few beans together and do long cuts, diagonal cuts (about 1½-2 inches in length. Add a quarter cup of water before you cover to cook the beans, then follow the recipe.

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: French beans

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In Gluten Free

Kala Zeera Gajar Chawal (Black Cumin Carrot Pilaf)

By The Indian Foodie

I first learned to make this dish when my husband, who was in the Air Force at that time, was attending Defence Services Staff College in Wellington, India. We were about 300 couples that were 30+ years old. It was a fun time for the ladies, though the husbands were kept busy studying. With dinner parties almost every other day, there was a great exchange of recipes and competitive cooking. Thank you, Mimi, for this recipe!

This is a good rice dish when inviting guests over as it is light on the stomach and goes well with vegetarian and non-vegetarian curries, curried vegetables, and dals.

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Kala Zeera Gajar Chawal (Black Cumin Carrot Pilaf)

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 30

Total Time 50

Servings 4

A flavor-packed rice pilaf with spices and carrots.

Ingredients

2 cups basmati rice
½ carrot (peeled and coarsely grated)
2 tbsp cooking oil
4 cups water
Salt to taste

Seasonings

2 bay leaves
2 small green cardamoms
1 large black cardamom
4-5 cloves
1 small cinnamon stick
1 whole green Serrano chili (optional)

Garnish

½ cup thinly sliced onions (sautéed golden brown)
¼ cup sautéed cashew nuts (optional)
3 hard-boiled eggs (peeled and cut in half)

Instructions

Sort and clean rice of any grit. Place in a pot or bowl and wash 3-4 times, rubbing grains gently between your fingers. Cover with at least 2 inches of water and let soak for 15-20 minutes, then drain.
In a large pot, heat oil on medium heat. Add cumin, cardamoms, cloves, and cinnamon at once, stir for a minute, and add drained rice. Sauté carefully for 3-4 few minutes until most of the moisture is evaporated and the rice grains start to look translucent, approx. 5 minutes. (Do not brown!)
Add 4 cups of water and salt to taste, then cover and bring to a boil for 15 minutes.
When the water is half evaporated and you see little pits appearing on top of the rice, add the grated carrot, stir slowly and gently, then cover and let simmer on low heat for about 10-15 minutes. Keep a careful eye on it at this stage to make sure no rice is sticking to the bottom of the pot. You can test to see if it is done by taking a cooked grain and squishing it with your finger. If it is granular, it needs to cook a little more.
You can also heat the oven to 180-200°F, and once you add the grated carrot, put the pot in the oven and let it cook for another half an hour. Make sure it is a pot that can handle oven heat—you don’t want melted handles on your best non-stick!
Serve on a rice platter or dish and garnish with boiled eggs, fried onions, and cashew nuts.

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: carrots, rice, spices

Photo by Indian Army – Wikipedia

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In Vegan Diet

Bhindi Sabzi (Sauteed Okra)

By The Indian Foodie

It is a Saturday afternoon, and our cook is in the kitchen, ready to cut a huge pile of freshly washed bhindi (okra). My twin sister and I stand patiently by, waiting for him to start cutting the bhindi. He slices the heads and tails off, and then the bhindi is chopped for the sabzi.

As soon as he’s done, we quickly pick up the cut heads and stick them all over our faces. Walking out of the kitchen, we go in search of our younger siblings and pretend that we have a dreadful and mysterious skin disease. Of course, they don’t buy it. But our two-year-old baby sister catches sight of us and freaks out.

We quickly remove the bhindi heads from our faces before the situation escalates to a mom appearance! The bhindi heads are slimy, so a swift wipe with the edge of our frocks (dress) takes care of that mess, and we rush to cajole our sister.

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Bhindi Sabzi (Sauteed Okra)

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 30

Total Time 45

Servings 4

An easy-to-make delicious vegan dish that goes well with lentils and rice or rotis.

Ingredients

1 ½ lb fresh okra (or 1 lb frozen okra (which, in the interest of time, I prefer))
½ large yellow onion (or 1 medium shallot) (sliced fairly thin)
1 dry red chili broken in half ((optional / to your taste))
1 1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin powder
¼ tsp chili powder ((optional / to your taste))
¾ tsp salt ((or to your taste))
2-3 tbsp cooking oil

Instructions

Wash the bhindi, then spread them on a paper towel to dry.
Cut the heads off the bhindi and then slice evenly, about ½ inch thick. The knife gets slimy, so keep a paper towel handy to keep wiping the blade. If using a frozen pack, pour it into a colander and toss or shake it a few times to eliminate any ice crystals.
In a broad (10 inch) skillet heat, 2-3 tablespoons of the oil on medium heat.
Add the broken red chili, stir for 30 seconds, and then add the sliced onions.
Sauté the onions for 2 minutes until tender.
Add turmeric, cumin, and chili powder.
Stir the spices into the onions, 30-40 seconds.
Now add the bhindi and spread it out on the pan.
Cover the pan and let cook on medium-low for 2minutes, then uncover, so the vegetable does not get slimy.
Stir carefully and occasionally to brown the bhindi on all sides. It is important to do this so that the bhindi remains intact—especially the frozen ones.
When the moisture evaporates, 10-15 minutes (a little longer for the frozen) turn off the heat, cover with a splatter guard so that no moisture can build up, and make them soggy.
If the fresh bhindi gets too dry when cooking, then you can cover it.
Let it rest for about 5 minutes before serving.

Notes

Note: If using a frozen okra package, as I usually do, use a broad pan. Follow as above but do not cover or stir too often. Stir carefully so as not to break up the bhindi.

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Indian

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